Marvell’s custom silicon operation now offers copackaged optics (CPO). Enabling systems to connect fiber-optic networks directly to chips such as AI accelerators (NPUs) and network switches raises per-chip bandwidth and extends interchip connectivity distances.
Few companies offer CPO. Broadcom, Marvell’s main custom-silicon rival, has developed a few Ethernet switches implementing the technology and, this past summer, stated it was trialing a CPO-enabled NPU. Intel has demonstrated a Xeon with a single optical link, and it has a novel technology for integrating the light source into the package. The latter would replace a separate optical module. Few companies offer CPO because silicon photonics (SiPho) is a critical technology. Marvell showed off its SiPho engine in 2024 at OFC.
As processing throughput scales, I/O becomes a bottleneck, and copper wires are approaching their limits. Silicon photonics and CPO are the leading alternatives for the big NPUs and switches that dominate hyperscale data centers. Because hyperscalers employ custom silicon, CPO complements Marvell’s technology and services portfolio.