Optical Interconnects are fiber-optic links moving data between chips, boards, racks and switches inside high-speed systems like AI data centers and telecom networks. As bandwidth demands push toward 800G, 1.6T, copper reaches its physical limits. Optical interconnects carry data as light instead, at higher speeds, with lower loss over distance. Silicon photodiodes cannot detect the infrared wavelengths these links use. InGaAs and germanium photodiodes convert that light into usable electrical signals with the speed, low dark current, and reliability optical interconnects require. GPD Optoelectronics designs and manufactures photodiodes built for optical interconnect applications across data center, telecom and aerospace systems.
Everyone’s talking GPUs, but the AI buildout has a quieter bottleneck: getting data into and out of chips fast enough. As data centers push toward 800G and 1.6T, silicon can’t detect the light. Germanium and InGaAs photodiodes are the unsung heroes making it work.