Marvell Predicts Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) Scale-Up from Late 2027, Emphasizing Taiwan and TSMC’s Central Role

September 6, 2026

digitimes Taiwan

Overview

Marvell’s Senior Vice President and CTO, Radha Nagarajan, announced at SEMICON Taiwan 2026 that the significant commercial scale-up of Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) is anticipated to begin in late 2027. He emphasized that Taiwan, and particularly TSMC, will play a central role in this large-scale deployment. This statement marks a crucial milestone in the optical communication technology roadmap driven by AI infrastructure evolution, indicating steady industry progress towards CPO practical implementation.

In Depth

Key Findings

Marvell’s Senior Vice President and CTO, Radha Nagarajan, projected at SEMICON Taiwan 2026 that the substantial commercial scale-up of Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) is expected to commence in late 2027. He underscored that Taiwan, and specifically the global semiconductor foundry TSMC, will play a pivotal role in this widespread deployment.

Technical / Clinical Details

CPO is a groundbreaking technology that integrates switching Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) with optical engines within the same package. This integration dramatically shortens electrical trace lengths, resulting in significant reductions in power consumption during data transmission and vastly improved bandwidth density. Nagarajan explained that the full-scale commercialization of CPO requires advanced packaging techniques and massive manufacturing capabilities, making advanced foundries like TSMC indispensable. Platforms such as TSMC’s Compact Universal Photonics Engine (COUPE) are critical enablers for ensuring CPO scalability and supporting its mass production.

Background & Context

The explosive growth of AI workloads has created pressing challenges related to power consumption and data transfer bottlenecks within data centers. Traditional pluggable optical modules struggle with signal loss and power draw due to longer electrical traces. CPO is seen as a key solution to these issues, enabling the ultra-high-speed and energy-efficient interconnects required by next-generation AI data centers. Marvell, a leading provider of optical transceivers and semiconductor solutions for network infrastructure, offers a robust industry outlook on the CPO roadmap with its CTO’s specific timeline and emphasis on Taiwan and TSMC’s roles.

Strategic Significance & Outlook

Marvell’s prediction of CPO’s scale-up from late 2027 holds profound implications for the evolution of AI infrastructure. The widespread adoption of this technology will bring about a significant transformation in data center design and operation, contributing to enhanced power efficiency, reduced operational costs, and improved scalability of computing power. With Taiwan and TSMC at the heart of this technological revolution, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to solidify its position as an even more critical hub in the global optical communications market. CPO implementation is set to accelerate the realization of next-generation optical networks, such as 800G and 1.6T, thereby fostering innovation in areas like AI, HPC, and cloud computing.

Source: https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20260902PD227/marvell-tsmc-silicon-taiwan-photonics.html

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