Rachel Berkowitz of IEEE Spectrum reports that TSMC has partnered with startup Avicena to develop microLED-based optical interconnects for AI data centers, aiming to replace traditional copper wiring with a more energy-efficient, cost-effective solution. Avicenaโs LightBundle technology uses hundreds of blue microLEDs and imaging fibersโavoiding complex, costly lasersโto transmit high-speed data across short distances. The approach leverages mature components from LED and display industries, enabling faster scaling and lower energy use than current silicon photonics solutions. With prototypes showing superior efficiency, this innovative technology could reshape AI data infrastructure. Berkowitz writes:
In the race to anย all-opticalย AI data center, a major player has now placed a bet on a different horse.ย Semiconductor manufacturingย giantย TSMC announcedย that it will work with Sunnyvale startupย Avicenaย to produce microLED-basedย interconnects. The technology is a pragmatic twist on replacing electrical connections with optical ones to meet the high needs of communication among an increasing number ofย GPUsย in a low cost, energy efficient way.
Thanks to the computational demands ofย large language modelsย and their cousins, AI clusters are facing unprecedented requirements regarding amounts of data, bandwidth, latency, and speed. Sooner or later, theย copper wiresย that connectย processorsย and memory within a single AI data center rack will have to beย replaced with optics. โThereโs a huge push to get optical connections as close to the board as possible,โ says Lucas Tsai, a vice president atย TSMC. […]
Pezeshki acknowledges that Avicena has a ways to go to build and scale the product. But โthe combination of showing great results together with using mature building blocks is winning over converts,โ he says.
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